22 PKOPAGATION OF ROOTS AND STEMS 



their twigs, or the storms break them off : many of these 

 twigs take root in the moist earth where willows grow, and 

 they are often carried down the streams and are washed 

 along the shores of lakes. Observe the willows along a 

 brook, and determine whether any of them may have come 

 down the stream. 



58. PROPAGATION BY MEANS OF LEAVES. Even leaves 

 may take root and give rise to new plants. There are 

 examples in warm countries. The lake -cress of northern 

 streams also propagates in this way: the leaves with little 

 plants attached may often be seen floating down stream. 

 Gardeners propagate some kinds of begonias by means 

 of leaf cuttings; also gloxinias and bryophyllums. 



59. PROPAGATION BY MEANS OF BUDS. Buds often 

 become detached and propagate the plant. Familiar 

 examples are the bulblets of tiger lilies, borne 

 amongst the foliage ; for all bulblets and 

 bulbs are only special kinds of buds. Fig. 30. 

 Some water plants make heavy winter buds, 

 which become detached on the approach of 

 cold weather and sink to the bottom. In 

 4 spring, they give rise to new plants. 



60. GRAFTS. Sometimes a branch may 

 30. BuMet of un {t e w ith another plant. A branch or a 

 trunk may lie against another plant of the 

 same kind, or of a very closely related kind, and grow fast 

 to it; and if its original trunk die away, the part will be 

 growing on an alien root. A branch which grows fast 

 to a branch of another plant, the wood of the two knit- 

 ting together, is called a graft. Fig. 31. It is necessary 

 to distinguish between a graft and a parasite: a parasite 

 preys upon another plant, robbing it of its food, but a 

 graft becomes an integral part of the stock on which it 

 grows, and does its full work in elaborating food for 

 itself and for the stock. 



